What Does Gertrude Like?

Wednesday Night Bible Study Recap
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Try to figure out the patter:

Gertrude likes the Mission Impossible, but hates Lord of the Rings.
Gertrude likes Days of Thunder, but hates Cars.
Gertrude likes Minority Report, but hates Lethal Weapon.

Figured it out yet? That's right! Gertrude likes movies with Tom Cruise (for some unknown reason) and hates movies without Tom Cruise.

But should we care what Gertrude likes if we were trying to witness to her? (If you find yourself asking, "who is Gertrude", she, or he, is whoever, whenever, and wherever you may be trying to reach someone with the Gospel.)

So, here's the question: To what extent should the way we try to witness to someone be influenced by their likes and dislikes? For instance, should we try to dress, act, and speak like a group of people we are trying to witness to, almost like an "undercover cop"?

In 1 Corinthians 9:22 Paul says that he has "become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some."

What does this mean? What lengths was Paul willing to go to to have his message heard? Would he ever allow his method of sharing Christ to cause him to cross over into sin? If Paul were trying to witness to a college fraternity in 2006, would he party with the best of them? If Paul were trying to witness to a homosexual, would he act as a homosexual? If he were trying to witness to a group of high school students, would he try to join in their innapropriate conversations, using the same innapropriate language?

It is important that we try to relate the Gospel to those we are speaking, but not at the price of the actual truthfulness of the message, or compromising our own position in Christ.

See, sometimes we can get so caught up in this idea that "people are only going to listen to me if I can show that I relate to them" that we end up becoming just like them, discarding the "new creation" that Christ has made us for the same old slavery to sin. This completely messes up the message. All this does is show those people that "Chrsitians are just like me and I have no need to change."

On the other hand, if we pay no attention to where someone is in their lives, the Gospel may seem irrelavent.

If the Gospel is relevant to your life, how you are living every day, then the difference that it makes in your life, and can make in other people's lives, will be seen by those who are around you.

I encourage you to find ways to relate the Gospel, the truth about a free life, free from sin, death and despair, the truth about being created brand new, to the people that are around you.

But

Don't compromise the message, the truth, or you own position as a new creature in Christ, for the sake of being accepted by a particular group of people.